As storm Ciarán blew through London last month, I had a sinking feeling.
My old Hunter wellies had finally cracked and water seeped through a hole in the sole. My feet made a soft wheezing sound as I walked, like a pair of pug dogs.
I’d bought the boots at the height of their fashionability in 2005, when Kate Moss’s Hunters headlined Glastonbury. For many it was the inspiration needed to look beyond their trusty Dunlops.
Since then, designer labels from Chanel to Burberry to Balenciaga have put their spin on wellies, while technical-wear has become an accepted element of high fashion.
The latest incarnations have taken the idea to the extreme. MSCHF’s BRB (Big Red Boot) gives you the feet of an Aardman animations character — and somewhere to store your golf clubs when it’s not raining. Balenciaga’s 2022 collab with Crocs, meanwhile, is a pumped-up version of the popular slip-on, but the £650 price tag rather rains on their parade.
More charmingly, those cute kids’ frog wellies popular in the 1980s (including with princes William and Harry) are having a moment. Following a successful collaboration with JW Anderson on rubber frog loafers, Wellipets will release adult sizes of their classic tall frog wellies in early 2024.
Sadly, my feet can’t wait. I need a multitasking waterproof boot that’s warm, comfortable, and easy to get on and off. Something for flooded London streets, gardening, the odd country walk and the school run that looks slick in the farmers market but doesn’t scream “willing to pay £4 for an organic butternut squash” in the actual countryside.
Am I asking too much? An image of the designer Dries Van Noten in his Antwerp Garden wearing wellies, jeans, a waxed jacket and an unexpected silk scarf proves looking effortlessly stylish in rubber boots can be done.
I called explorer and self-confessed “welly snob” Ben Saunders for some advice. Saunders once walked 1,800 miles unsupported across Antarctica, so he knows a thing or two about keeping his feet warm and dry. What’s the secret? “I’ve tried everything from traditional boots with a felt lining to more recently boots using foam liners that were heat moulded to my feet by a company called Intuition. What blew me away about them was that I was only wearing one pair of socks and didn’t have a single blister after doing the equivalent of 69 marathons back to back in temperatures of -48C. Frostbite is entirely avoidable.”
And for more pedestrian pursuits? “After a huge amount of research, I bought a pair of wellies from a Swedish company called Harkila,” he says. “They’re flipping brilliant. They’ve got a Vibram sole so they’re like a welly combined with a walking boot and the 3mm neoprene lining makes them a little bit warmer at this time of year.” (£200, harkila.com)
Maybe he’s on to something. One of the issues I’d had with my old Hunters was that they had a very narrow cut and the rubber sole lacked grip. I gave the brand another shot, this time trying the Balmoral boot (£195, hunterboots.co.uk). It is cut more generously around the calf and — like Saunders’ Harkila — has a hard-working Vibram sole that feels considerably grippier than my previous boots. They feel tough but modern.
Another affordable option is Tretorn, the Swedish outdoor brand that started life in 1891 producing galoshes for farmers. I was taken with the Sarek 72, a very comfortable rubber welly that again features a hiking boot sole (£120, gb.tretorn.com).
But when it came to grip strength, Muck Boots triumphed — particularly its Arctic Ice boot with a Vibram sole and 8mm neoprene lining (£225, muckbootcompany.co.uk).
Finally the ne plus ultra: Le Chameau Chasseur boots (£380, lechameau.com). A filmmaker friend swears by his pair, bought in a panic in the Highlands 20 years ago while making a documentary, which still look as good as new today. They come in eight calf-width options and the full-length zip makes getting them on and off a breeze.
When I slip them on, I imagine this was how the Duke of Wellington felt slipping on the first pair of boots made to his specifications by cobbler George Hoby on St James’s Street in the early 1800s — and which became the prototype for the modern-day Wellington boot.
By the time Wellington arrived at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, his innovative boots were already in fashion and his only competitor (aside from Napoleon, of course) was Prussian field-marshal von Blücher, who favoured ankle-high boots (known as Blüchers) that he’d designed for his foot soldiers.
But even the best designed wellies can feel restrictive after a while. What’s the alternative? I call chef Tom Adams, co-owner of Coombeshead Farm in rural Cornwall, for his view.
“As a kid I hated wearing wellies,” he says, recalling the overflowing boot room of his family farm. “I just remember the blisters.”
Today, he wears low slip-on leather boots by Australian workwear brand Redback (£120, redbackboots.co.uk). “They’re a really hard-wearing farm boot,” he says. “Even on a wet day I’ll wear them with waterproof overalls and they’re amazing. We give them a beating.” As a result, he’ll go through at least a pair a year.
Although many brands have introduced short versions of their rubber boots (such as Tretorn’s £90 Garpa or Hunter’s £95 Play) to counter the downsides of tall wellies, maybe a more hybrid waterproof walking boot is the way forward for wet city days.
Sorel’s new Mac Hill Lite Trace trainer-like waterproof walking boots (£155, sorelfootwear.co.uk) are about as far from a welly as you could throw one and tick all my boxes.
However, I preferred Diemme’s more substantial Roccia Vet Sport hiking boots (€384, diemme.com). They’re a handmade thing of beauty and, despite their solidity, surprisingly nimble thanks to a thick but lightweight sole that provides a reassuring level of traction in torrential rain. Meanwhile, the colourful oversized rubber rand gave me the proudly weather-resistant appearance of a blue-footed booby.
But it was Palladium’s new waterproof Pallabrousse Hiker that I kept coming back to (£160, palladiumboots.co.uk). Created by bootmaker to the French Foreign Legion, they feature a moulded black rubber sole melded to a leather upper with a thick woollen insole. They’re comfortable and pleasingly waterproof — perfect for a route march followed by a tactical retreat to the pub. And the discreet styling means you don’t wish you’d swapped out of your wellies first.
As my original gorp-core hero, the fell walker and writer Alfred Wainwright, is often quoted as saying: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”
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